In the video, a tram barreled down a street toward an inflatable ball. There was contact. The ball flew through the air. Inflatable pylons — like those you might see as stand-ins for players at a high school football practice — came bouncing down.
I watched, transfixed, from the comfort of my Instagram scroll. What was this sport? Was it even a sport? I searched something like “tram bounce ball race” online, and the elite world of niche public transit competition opened up before me.
I learned it was tram bowling, one of the blockbuster events of the European Tramdriver Championship.
Each year, public transit drivers from cities across Europe gather to compete in a series of events along an obstacle course. Some events test precision, like the ability to engage the emergency brake at an exact point. Others evaluate a driver’s smooth touch: One event at this year’s competition in Frankfurt, for example, challenged drivers to not spill a bowl of water mounted to the front of the tram.
The winning team of two drivers goes home with a trophy, local souvenirs and the glory of being known as the best tram drivers in Europe. Yes, it is a real thing. And yes, I immediately knew I wanted to witness it in person.
That’s because I have always loved public transit.
I’m from the Bronx, and I grew up riding buses across the borough. (I used to hold my breath as we crossed into Manhattan, imagining the water below.) As an adult, I spent my morning commute to Manhattan gazing at the Brooklyn Bridge from the windows of the Q train. So writing about the transit competition for The New York Times felt natural.
When I first learned about the niche competition this spring, I was living in New York, writing the Asia Pacific edition of the Morning Briefing newsletter. A weekend trip to Europe would have been expensive, and hardly part of my job. But just a few months later, I moved to London and joined The Times’s International desk as a general assignment reporter. Much to my delight and surprise, the job presented an opportunity to write about the 11th edition of the tram jamboree.
So this month, I flew to Frankfurt with two notebooks, comfortable shoes and a tram-do attitude.
At the competition, I spoke with a group of friends who had been planning their trip for months. Nearby, another group had designed and ordered scarves in support of the team from Oradea, a Romanian city that hosted the rotating competition the year before.
Despite their scarves, the people in this group had no obvious connection to either Oradea or Romania, but remained fully committed to the team.
“It just felt right,” said Nosa Tasslimi, 27, who had designed the scarves. “You don’t choose the transport company. I think the transport company chooses you.”
That’s the magic of the championship. Public transit is often seen as, well, boring. But at the championship, it was fun.
On the day of the competition, fans watched as drivers raced through the obstacle course. Spectators cheered themselves hoarse and lined up to buy tram-related merchandise. I held my breath as the drivers played tram billiards, in which contestants gently steer their vehicle to knock a pool cue into a billiard ball.
Many drivers had practiced for months. They were not just representing their cities, some told me, but also representing one of the most important, and most overlooked, jobs in any city.
“I know my tram,” said Julia-Melanie Parzer, 27, who was competing for Vienna and wearing an oversized tram pin.
Her grandfather drove a bus. Her mother drove a subway. One of her favorite childhood games was a tram simulator. Now she runs a tram Instagram account.
The team from Budapest won this year’s competition, though fun was had by all, myself included.
And since the article was published, I have commuted with different eyes. Yes, buses are loud, crowded and sometimes late. Yes, inexplicably — horribly — London has chosen to cover some of its train seats with fabric.
But public transit is amazing, and its captains sweep us from home to work to school to doctor’s appointments to drinks to karate to dates and back home again. Where would all 4.4 billion of us who live in cities be without it?
As for me? Well, I live close-ish to a tram in London, which I’ve never ridden. Perhaps I’m overdue for a visit.
The post Bowling, Billiards and Emergency Brakes: Inside the Tram Olympics appeared first on New York Times.
